At the moment it isn’t feasible for my computer to mine, as it is a Streacom FC8 which can’t physically fit GPUs. Additionally, with the transition to PoS, it isn’t feasible to buy a mining rig, as it’s unlikely to get a payback. What I want to know is whether my existing computer (as well as most modern desktop computers) would be able to join a validator pool with PoS?

The problem is that I don’t think I can run a full node, at least, Mist 0.8.9 didn’t work for me; the disk got too full, and I had issues trying to put the data on an external HDD. But I realise that running a full node is a requirement for being a miner or a validator, although maybe not for stateless clients.

Running Parity doesn’t slow the internet down so that I can’t really use the computer (indeed there is barely a noticeable difference in speed), whereas with Geth it’s too slow to browse with it running.

I don’t know what the latest document is which suggests what the staking size might be, but I don’t think it has been set in stone. Perhaps @vladzamfir, @vbuterin, @nate, @djrtwo or someone else can clarify.